"First, of course, and most important for us here at Gorillapants is the shocka leak of the 1995 Mountain Goats album Hail and Farewell, Gothenburg. Yes, that Gothenburg. In Sweden. It was originally supposed to be a follow-up to Johnny D.’s very own Sweden, but for some reason (many have been bandied about: personal nature of the songs, unhappiness with the album’s story arc, etc) it was never put out there for public consumption. On Friday evening of last week, it suddenly appeared in the usual places. Go figure. Anyway, there are conflicting stories as to the kosherness of the leak–the head honcho at megafansite themountaingoats.net says Darnielle cleared it, other bloggers report that he asked them to take tracks down–so I won’t be posting any of them till I hear a clear answer. If you know where to look, it’s readily available, anyway. And I’ll go on record as saying that it’s a very, very good listen."

honestly, i hate to hear about people sitting on perfectly good listening material. why? i mean, among fans, sharing these things is great. no one is asking anyone to use these songs to sell laundry detergent or fast food. i almost wish this topic was never brought up. anyone who has rare mountain goats material should be willing to share it. hell, that is what feeds our fanaticism afterall: material, new, old, and rare.

Quotemonkeyskullhonestly, i hate to hear about people sitting on perfectly good listening material.

Normally I would agree one hundred percent, but in the case of Hail and Farewell, where there is some doubt as to wether or not John actually wants us to hear the songs or not, it all gets a little complicated.

That said, I've listened to it, but I can understand why some people choose not to and I repect their choice in that mattter.

Quotemonkeyskullhonestly, i hate to hear about people sitting on perfectly good listening material.

Normally I would agree one hundred percent, but in the case of Hail and Farewell, where there is some doubt as to wether or not John actually wants us to hear the songs or not, it all gets a little complicated.

Right, that's it exactly. I respect John a lot and the way I see it is if one of my friends who's in a band made a record and then decided he didn't want anyone to hear it, I would respect those wishes, 'cause I mean, he's gotta have his reasons. And I mean, it's kind of a flawed idea to assume that the fan/consumer/art lover/critic had some kind of inherent right to the work of the artist. At a certain point, the art no longer belongs to the artist, I agree with that completely, but it's up to the artist--not anyone else--to bring it to that point, to release it. I know I personally have two albums that I would definitely not want anyone to ever hear ever again, that are purposely never going to be repressed, and were I to become famous enough in my scene where there became a demand for it, I'd probably start sweatin'.

and as far as will power goes, i kinda like testing it, and anyway i'm enough of a masochist where i kinda enjoy denying myself something like that

not that it's something i have to actively think about--there are so many albums--so many mountain goats albums even--that it's not really that hard to resist, though i can't say i'm not curious and wouldn't like to hear it

maybe i'm just subconsciously waiting for the word to come down from upon high that it's okay to listen to it

Quotejebrejectmaybe i'm just subconsciously waiting for the word to come down from upon high that it's okay to listen to it

That's where I was for a while. I looked all over for a definitive yea or nay from John directly, but I never found one, and that proved reason enough for me after awhile.

If there was a big 'do-not-download' message, plain and simple where people who'd already been tipped off about the album would find it, chances are that those who would really be interested in it would respect John's wishes, having made them known directly...

Quotethemountaingoats.netcomments from john darnielle on taboo vi: the homecoming.
05.29.97

A few words from John regarding Taboo VI: the Homecoming
When I wrote and recorded Taboo VI, I had no idea that anyone outside
of a few friends would ever hear it; neither did I hope that anyone
outside of those friends would ever express any interest in it. A
couple of the things on it (Going to Alaska, Eleven Bands, Solomon
Revisited, the Hank Williams song) are things I'd stand by if pressed,
though I wish I'd've known how to sing better back when they were
recorded. While I completely understand the collector's urge, I would
offer the following caveat to anyone trying to hunt down Taboo VI: it's
not what you think it is. Its successor, the Hound Chronicles, represented
an abrupt and total change in direction, and is the stylistic starting
point for all that followed. While I can't and wouldn't disown Taboo VI,
I'd like to offer this note of caution to those who like the later stuff
and are trying to get their hands on my first efforts: you probably won't
like it much, and if you pay an inflated price for it, you'll probably
feel cheated. Having said that, if you still feel inclined to hunt it
down, I do hope that you enjoy it on its own meager terms. It means
well and didn't want to hurt anyone. Except for maybe that one guy.
I hate that guy.

I know this only applies to Taboo IV, but personally I never knew much on the subject of old, unreleased songs until reading this note from John regarding Taboo IV. Having gotten into him during the LONG LIVE LO-FI! era, I guess I assumed John wanted to distance himself from lots of his old stuff. I don't really know how to feel about that, cuz I love some of the old stuff that he may not like so much. That said, I do like the fact that there are a bunch of tMg songs played live that will never be recorded. Also glad he still plays lots of old songs that are plenty covered in dust. (for anyone who might be interested: this Easy Street Records show is tagged wrong, after If You See Light comes the glory of Sinaloan Milk Snake Song)

But yeah, if something spills out again and John doesn't OK it, I'll certainly test the ol' willpower to abstain

It's a really great record, I stumbled upon it on accident. A lot of those songs were some of my favorite live tracks, and I was incredibly happy to hear the "official" versions of them.
Never heard anything about John not wanting it to be heard though.
The recording quality is odd though, it dosen't sound like any other Mountain Goats record.
At least not to me.
It's a bit hissy, but there's no tape grind.
Anyone know how it was recorded?

after i'd heard it, i thought "get lonely" could have very well been a prequel or sequel to it.

it has a strange thin sound to it, different sounding than all other mountain goats productions.

the songs have the usual excellent writing, and an uber hardcore mountain goats fan (ie, all yous here) shouldn't go without a listen. once you give birth, it doesn't matter if you like the kid or not, the kid's out there and beautiful regardless.

though, i at first missed the idea that there is an unreleased mountain goats album, i'm positive that there are many more songs and albums that we haven't heard about or will. that's nice.